How to deploy or uninstall ear using command line Jython script in Websphere

This tutorial covers about how to deploy , start , stop , uninstall an application in websphere application server (WAS) using the command line tool wsadmin with Jython script. Before that let us see the various administrative tools provided by  WebSphere Application Server for application deployment.

1. admin console
          The admin console is a browser-based Web application running in the Web container to administer WebSphere Application Server.  This  console uses Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) via HTTP or HTTPS to connect to the admin application in the application server or deployment manager.

2. wsadmin  (WebSphere scripting client )
                             It is a command line tool that is a non-graphical scripting interface that can be used  to administer WebSphere Application Server from a command line prompt. It  accepts a file of scripted commands or which  can be run interactively.     For scripting, wsadmin supports the two script languages JACL and jython.   .

3. ANT (Another Neat Tool )
                         You can create build scripts that compile, package, install, and test your application on WebSphere Application Server.

                    Although the admin console is easy to use and sufficient for tasks that are simple , non-repetitive and having  a minimal number of administrative steps.   For administrative task that requires many steps, which can be repetitive, and also time consuming  , wsadmin is the right tool.   wsadmin   accepts a file of scripted commands or  which can be run interactively.  For scripting, wsadmin supports  two script languages JACL and jython.  WebSphere Application Server installation has a bin directory that contains the wsadmin command .  The default connection  of wsadmin to  connect to the Mbeans is SOAP with the default port 8879. You can also start wsadmin with the different port with -port argument

   Now let us see the steps for deploying  an  application (ear)  using command line tool wsadmin with  Jython script.    The simplest deployment scenario is to deploy an application from a desktop  to a  running base server.

Steps :
    Start the application server if the application server is not running

 Open a command prompt and change to the application_server_profile_root/bin directory

To check the status of the server

    serverStatus.sh server1  

If the server  is stopped , then start the server with the below command

    startServer.sh server1

a)  Save the below lines written using  jython script  in a file (for example : deploy.jython)

earLoc='path and filename of your ear file'     #eg. '/root/Desktop/sales.ear'

appName='your application name'                # eg. 'salesWeb' 

cellName=AdminControl.getCell()

nodeName=AdminControl.getNode()

appManager=AdminControl.queryNames('cell='+cellName+',node='+nodeName+',type=ApplicationManager,process=server1,*')

print appManager

#AdminControl.invoke(appManager , 'stopApplication',appName)

print AdminApp.uninstall(appName)

AdminConfig.save()

print AdminApp.install(earLoc)

AdminConfig.save()

AdminControl.invoke(appManager , 'startApplication',appName) 

b)  Change the first two lines with your suitable values in the script file, save the script file and run it  using the below command that will deploy the ear.

wsadmin.sh -f  script_file -lang jython
e.g. in linux   :    $wsadmin.sh -f deploy.jython -lang jython
e.g. in windows :  app_profile_root\ bin>   wsadmin.bat -f deploy.jython -lang jython

To complete & repeat  the above task using admin console , you have to do many steps every time. But using wsadmin , this task can be repeated any number of times  using the above single line  whenever the application gets modified.

       If the application is already not installed , you may get the error application does not exist . Then you may comment (#) the   below lines in the script file.          
                        print AdminApp.uninstall(appName)
                        AdminConfig.save()